If your daughter gets pregnant, will your insurance cover it?

Question

Let's say you have a pregnant 19 year old daughter who has no insurance of her own, but she is still covered on your insurance until she is 23. Will your maternity benefit cover her, or will she need to find out some other way to get help?

Answer 1

If she is currently on your insurance than it should be covered.  Just check with your insurer to be sure.  If she can't get coverage for maternity care through your insurance she should contact the local social service office.  Free insurance is available to moms without any.

Answer 2

Every state have medical for pregnant woman.  MEDICAID pays all pregnancy related bills.  If you must use your TPL(private insurance) as primary and let medicaid pick of the remaining bills.  If your primary insurance does not pay towards her medical bills, medicaid will pay all.

Answer 3

If she is a covered dependant and maternity is a covered benefit, then she will be covered for her pregnancy and delivery. The baby once born, will probably not be covered unless you adopt the baby or, you can meet whatever eligibility requirements your insurance demands be met.

Check with the insurance before the birth to make sure you have other arrangements in place for medical care for the baby once it comes home. It's possible that the baby's father could add the baby to his coverage. Of course medicaid or a separate policy are the other options.

Answer 4

It depends.

Some employer policies include "dependent maternity."  However, I have also seen employer policies that only cover maternity for the employee or the spouse, not dependents.

Contrary to what some of the other answerers stated, it is *not* safe to assume that dependent maternity is covered on your benefit plan.  You need to ask either your HR department or your insurance company...ask if "dependent maternity" is covered.

The majority of employers that I've seen do cover dependent maternity, but that's a choice not a requirement.  At least, its not required in my state, other state's laws may vary.  Anyhow, its better to confirm before you get in that situation.  I had a client once who assumed that her 16 year old daughter's pregnancy would be covered by insurance.  Unfortunately, her plan did not cover maternity for dependents.  They didn't qualify for Medicaid and ended up paying for the whole pregnancy/delivery out of pocket.

Answer 5

As long as your policy covers maternity then your daughter’s pregnancy will be covered.  If she is already 19 then she would need to meet the eligibility requirements which usually means that she must be a full time student.  If she is not a full time student then there is a good chance that she would no longer be eligible.  The termination date would either be the last day she is a full time student or the end of the month she is no longer a full time student.  I would make sure if she is in school that you provide your insurance company with proof such as a letter from the school showing how many credits she is taking and that she is a full time student.  Insurance companies will ask for proof usually twice a year and if you do not contact them then she would be automatically termed until you provide proof.  Most plans that I see cover maternity so I wouldn’t worry that hers would not be covered.  You can call the insurance company to find out what your maternity coverage is.  Coverage for the baby is a different matter.  Unless your plan covers grandchildren (most do not unless you are the legal guardian) the babies hospital costs would not be covered.  That is another question that you would want to ask your insurance company or if you have a certificate you can look under “qualified dependents” to see if grandchildren are listed.

Just another note on pregnancy, if your plan charges you a copay each time you are seen by the doctor, only pay on the first visit.  Doctors do not bill the insurance company for each monthly visit but rather include all the exams into the delivery charge.  The only exam that they bill separately for is the first exam. This is called “global billing” and you can ask your doctor if they bill globally. If so then  you would not need to pay a copay for each visit.  I only mentioned that because I have been in health insurance for almost 15 years and some people do not know this and they end up overpaying. This of course would not include any lab charges or ultrasounds. That is always billed separately.  

If you need any help down the road with your bills feel free to email me and I would be happy to assist.

Answer 6

The insurance policy at my work will only cover a 19 year old if she is in school.

It also will not cover pregnancy not by the spouse, it would cove the grand child if you are listed at the legal guardian.

Answer 7

If she's covered, yes.  The maternity benefit should cover all on the plan.  I wouldn't see why not.

Answer 8

She's only covered under your policy until 23, if she remains a full time student, and your dependent.  

If you have maternity coverage, SHE will be covered - but the baby will NOT be.   If she drops out of school, or drops a semester, or goes less than full time, or gets married and/or moves out, your insurance won't cover her any more.